Body massaging and stimulating device



May 31, 1955 c.,c. cuRTls 2,709,431

BODY MAssAGING AND STIMULATING DEVICE Filed April 22, 1952 gmc/Wto@ BDY MASSAGING AND STIMULATING DEVICE Cecil Claud Curtis, Berkeley, Calif.

Application April 22, 1952, Serial No. 283,647

2. Claims. (Cl. 12S-24.1)

rhis invention relates to a manually operable device or implement designed for the treatment of ailing portions of the human body capable of application to practically any portion of the body and manipulation thereover under desired temperature of heat or cold, and it was disclosed in my abandoned application under the title Appliance for Massage and Heat or Cold Treatment of the Human Body, tiled under date of l une S, 1948, and serially numbered 31,674.

it is well recognized that ailing portions of the body may be eased under massage action thereof with variable pressure accompanied by heat or cold treatment or successive alternating temperatures.

The characteristic of the invention resides in the facility of the applicator or implement to apply a heat or cold treatment to substantially any ailing portion of the body, to which end the novel shaping of the applicator is such as to conform to contact any portion of the body as the neck, face, arm, or leg, etc. and is smoothly moved or manipulated, with desirable pressure therewith or thereagainst, while contemporaneously subjecting the saine to the inuence of heat or cold to correspondingly increase the circulation in the member or part of the body under treatment.

With the foregoing aims in view a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a grip or handle adapted to be grasped within the hand of the operator carrying an elongated contact member or head portion of easy curvature or arcuate shape, rounded transversely to afford a smooth engaging surface conforming generally to the rounding of the neck, face, arm or leg under treatment, the grip or handle, and the head, being hollow or having interior communication, provided with means enabling the cooling or heating of the head, said last mentioned means comprising means for coupling the handle to a source of cooling or heat supply, or accommodating a supply carried interiorly of the handle, or a removable part of the head to enable the introduction of a heating or cooling medium thereat.

The foregoing, as will be understood, contemplates alternative arrangements, as will be obvious, and the same will be more readily understood from the drawings forming part thereof wherein the preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated, together with the specific descriptions thereof hereinafter contained.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a longitudinal sectional View of the applicator showing a cartridge or container for the cooling medium in inoperative position;

Figure 2 is a like view transversely of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a view the same as Figure 2 with the cartridge of the cooling medium in operative position;

Figure 4 is an enlarged detached sectional view showing an alternative means enabling employment of a cooling medium other than the cartridge or container reierred to;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating a modification of the cartridge or container shown in the first three figures.

Referring more particularly to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views, 6 represents a grip or handle of substantial length, adapted to be grasped by the hand of the operator, the same having a bore 7 providing a longitudinal passage through the handle. The handle is preferably formed of steel or aluminum, or other suitable material. The outer end of the handle 6 is provided with a screw threaded extension 8 adjoining a shoulder 9 and the adjacent portion of the bore 7 is enlarged as at 1t) and formed with an inwardly tapering seat 11, for a purpose as will appear, located at the juncture of this enlarged portion or chamber 10 with the narrow portion of the bore 7.

Adapted to engage the threaded extension 3, and have tirm seating against the shoulder 9, is an interiorly threaded collar 12 of the hollow head 13 of the implement, the latter being preferably formed of metal and of considerable length to correspond to the normal extent of the member or portion of the body to be easily treated under the manipulation of the implement. This hollow head 13 is of arcuate shape lengthwise to conform approximately with the curvature of the arm, leg, face or neck, etc. to be treated, to present a rounded concaved face 14, the opposite branches 15 and 16 of the head, as also the intermediate connecting portion 17 thereof, are rounded transversely to constitute a smooth surface throughout permitting the implement to be worked over the surface of the part being treated without impairment by sharp or abrupt edges. The side of the head 13 opposite the face 14 is generally convex in form.

The head 13 is closed at opposite ends 13 and 19, the end portion 1g being detachably held in place by a threaded connection 20, as clearly indicated in Figure l of the drawings; and the branches 15 and 16 have small apertures 21 affording escape openings from the hollow interior of the head.

At a central point in the head, and carried by the depressed or concaved portion 14 thereof, there is a pointed member Z2 in position to cooperate with a container 23 carried in the enlarged end portion 1li of the handle so that in one position of this cartridge or container this discharging end 24 rests on the seat 11 (Figure l) where the cartridge or container remains intact or closed, but in its reverse portion (Figure 3) the end of the cartridge may by forced engagement with the pointed member 212, be opened and discharge its contents into the hollow interior of the head 13. This is accomplished in the following manner:

It being understood that the cartridge or container 13 is designed to carry a coolingmedium, such as carbonio acid gas, introduced therein under compression, and sealed by a fragile cap 25, this cap when the cartridge or container is in the position indicated in Figure l will be protected and preserved, but when the cartridge is inverted or reversed from the position shown in Figure l to that shown in Figure 3, the beveled or conical point 26 of the cap will, under the threaded advance movement of the cartridge or container, be forced outwardly under the pressure of the seat 11 and turning of the handle 6 and its threaded stem through the roller 12 to cause engagement and deection of the cap portion 26 with the pointed and tapered member 22 whereby the reduced or neck portion 27 of the cap will be deilected laterally away from its normal axial position with reference to the container or cartridge causing the same to fracture or break olf, as seen in Figure 3, to open the container and permit escape of the gas into the hollow interior of the head 13. Of course, the neck portion 27 of the cap is holllow to permit the escape of the contents from the cartridge or container whereas, the outer pointed end of said cap is closed to normally seal the contents.

ln Figure 5 an alternative arrangement is illustrated, the same comprising the pointed member 22a and the cap 25a of the cartridge or container 23a which is of a relatively soft metal adapted to be punctured to provide an escape from the container or cartridge, as distinguished from the breakable portion 27 of the metal cap 25 of the rst mentioned embodiment.

The head i3 is unscrewed and removed to insert the cartridge and then replaced and screwed home in seated relation to the shoulder 9 of the handle which will be suiiicient to deiiect and break od the cap portion, as shown in Figure 3, to liberate the carbonic acid gas content from the cartridge or container to the interior of the head, and such liberation will cause the gas to spread and lill the head, ultimately escaping through thefine apertures 21 of the head, resulting in the imparting of a cooling action on the metal of the head for cold treatment of the ailing part of the body, movement of the implement as a massage, in the course of such treatment being under such manual pressure as may be desired, by the operator and smooth or easy manipulation of the head enabled by the rounding or curvature thereof longitudinally and transversely.

In instances, as where the loaded cartridges 23, are not at hand or available, or where tanks of the gas may be obtained, the containers or cartridges 23 may be dispensed with and a pipe or tube from such tank threaded into the coupling member 28 at the inner end of the handle 6 so that the gas may be liberated from said tank. and permitted to iow through the bore 7, and its enlargement 1i) into the interior of the head when similar cooling of the head may be obtained thereby. Normally, however, the inner end of the bore 7 is closed through the medium of the stopper generally represented at 29, Figure l, comprising a threaded plug 30 to engage a correspondingly threaded interior portion 31 at said inner end portion of the handle 6, containing a valve seat 32 and cooperating valve 33 normally held closed by a spring 3d exerting an expansive action between the tapered end 35 ot the valve seat and a flange 36 on the valve stem 37. To seal any space that may intervene between the valve seat member 32 and the inner wall 38 of the hollow plug 34B, a rubber or similar packing ring 39 is positoned on the member 32.

As stated, the valve 33 rmly engages on its seat 32 to close the bore 7 relative to the exterior of the implement when the cartridge or container 23 is present in the device and used for cooling purposes. However when the cartridge is not present or is not used, threading of the end of the pipe or conduit from a storage tank into the coupling end 28 of the implement, the spider or diaphragm 40, carried at the end of the valve stem 37 will be forced, as an incident to the coupling of the implement to the supply tube or pipe (not shown) against the pressure of the spring 34 to unseat the valve 33 and thereby permit free discharge of the gas from the supply tube or pipe around the valve stem 37, into the interior of the freely around the valve 33 and from the hollow head 29' valve seat member and out between the valve seat 32,

outwardly through the hollow plug 30 into the bore or passage 7 of the handle, into the head 13.

On occasions it may be desirable to use the implement in other ways than those recited, namely, by the introduction of a cooling or heating medium or device into the hollow head from the end thereof, in which case the detachable end closure 19 may be removed to expose the interior of the head and, for instance, a cooling means, such as ice, or a heating means, such as hot water, supplied to the interior of the implement when the closure 19 may be restored to position to complete the head.

Similarly, as will be obvious, when a heating medium is to be used in lieu of the cooling medium hereinbefore referred to, the coupling end 28 of the handle may be likewise connected to the pipe or tube leading from a source of supply, such as hot water, steam o1 other equivalent and, where found necessary, suitable washers may be utilized at the threaded couplings uniting the parts of the implement.

l claim:

l. In a device of the class described, an elongated handle having an axial bore open at one end and normally closed at its other end, the bore being enlarged inwardly from the said one end, the inner end of the enlarged portion of said bore curving inwardly and downwardly and merging into the other portion of the bore, a hollow head of arcuate form having opposed concave and convex sides, a hollow neck portion projecting from the center of the convex side of said head and interiorly threaded, said threads securing said head in engagement with the said one end of the handle, and a pointed element projecting inwardly from the center of the concave side of said head to puncture the outer end of a cartridge seated within the enlarged portion of said bore, when the head is tight threaded onto said handle, for the discharge of the content of the cartridge into the head, said cartridge containing a temperature changing media under pressure, the convex side of said head having a discharge opening to atmosphere at each side of said neck portion.

2. The device as dened in claim l, with a valve seat element threaded into the said other end of the handle bore, a valve element cooperative with said seat, a stem extending from said valve element outwardly through said seat element, a coil spring encircling said stern and acting to hold the valve element closed on said seat, and means on the free end of said stem for actuating said valve element to seat opening position against the tensioning effort of said spring.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 662,499 Reenstierna Nov. 27, 1900 2,493,759 Freygang Jan. 10, 1950 2,536,001 Chase D eC. 26, 1950 

